About Me

I am a Christian, wife of 28 years to an amazing man, and mom to identical triplet girls in college. I came to know Christ through Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), and it is a ministry near and dear to my heart. I was in leadership at BSF for 14 years as a Substitute Teaching Leader, Group Leader, Children's Leader, and Class Secretary. I am also a certified childbirth educator and infant massage instructor. Besides having a passion for the Lord and sharing Him with others, I am also passionate for art, and I love to help and share with other paper crafters and artists. I enjoy doing layouts of all sizes, art journaling, cards, mixed media, ATCs, altered art, etc. I love it all!

In accordance with FTC16CFR, Part 255, I declare that I currently receive or have received free products or am paid a fee to promote and endorse for free from the following companies: Canvas Corp Brands, Memory Box Co., Blue Fern Studios, Our Daily Bread Designs, Spellbinders Paper Arts, Stampin' Things, and Scrapbook.com. These companies generously supply me with complimentary products and/or a paid fee for promotional purposes. My enthusiasm in promoting their products does not stem from the fact that I am compensated by them, but because I truly love their products and feel their product lines and services to be superior in this industry.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

One of my daughter's called the other night from college. She is enrolled in the Army Reserve Officer's Training Corps (ROTC), and she wanted to tell me about her day. After going to class in her uniform, she needed to run to Wal-Mart before going back to campus. She had to get permission from the commander to go out in public in her uniform. Why you might ask? Because she may only be in ROTC; however, she represents all men and women in uniform. Her commander gave her permission to go so off she went. She said it was quite funny when she walked into the crowded store in her uniform. She said "It was like the parting of the Red Sea, Mom. Everyone moved aside so I could get through." She then said that a precious older man in his 80's came up to her and thanked her for her service. She tried to explain to him that she was not officially in the military but he insisted on thanking her. She said it brought tears to her eyes. It did me too as she was telling me the story. She then says "Mom, we are all wearing a uniform because we represent God even though you don't see our uniform."

That evening as I went to bed, I could not sleep because I kept thinking about my daughter's profound words. Can you imagine if we had to ask the Father if we could go out in public in His uniform? Would He grant that request? Do you represent Him well? Do you wear the same uniform on Sunday's to church as you do during the week in public or even at home where you are comfortable with family? And how about on social media? How are you representing Him there? So what is a representative or ambassador? Dictionary.com says:

Representative: a person or thing that represents another or others.

Ambassador: an authorized messenger or representative.

What kind of representative are you for the Lord? Have you ever been grieved by something you did that others have seen because you knew it made the Lord look bad? What did you do about it? Did you use that opportunity to ask for forgiveness, change your ways, and grow in Him? That is called "sanctification." Sanctification refers to the Holy Spirit progressively changing a believer to be more like Him. It is accomplished as we study His word, pray, worship, serve, and trust the Holy Spirit to progressively change our character into His image. We cannot continue to live a life dominated by sin because we then are not an effective representative for Christ. We dishonor Him. We of course still sin daily but through that sanctification process, we can progressively change. I have been a Christian since I was 33. I will be 50 in June. Am I the same Christian I was when I first came to know Him at age 33? No! He has changed me over the past 17 years, and He will continue to change me and mold me. Praise God for that!

Isaiah 64:8 "Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand."

Here is a song that I just heard as I was writing this challenge. I had never heard of this group or this song before but I ended really enjoying it—"God Most High" by Worship Central. I hope you do too. Click here for the lyrics and music. Here are just a part of the lyrics:

"Let this sound of our praise,Bring all honour to your NameWe lift our hearts,We lift our hands to You nowGod Most HighHere be glorifiedIn our lives, You are the light,Hope of the world God Most High"

And I love this quote by Billy Graham "We glorify Christ when we live for God—trusting, loving, and obeying Him. We glorify God by living lives that honor Him."

Does your life honor Him? Do your represent Him well? Where are the areas that need a little polishing, and where is the Holy Spirit is asking you to change?

Proverbs 20:11 "Even small children are known by their actions,
so is their conduct really pure and upright?"

Luke 11:28 "He replied, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.'"

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

2 Corinthians 8:23 "As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ."

2 Corinthians 10:11 "Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present."

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

1 Peter 1:15(HCSB) "But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct."

1 John 3:18 "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."

So, as you get up each day, ask yourself "How will I represent the Lord today? Will He be proud to have me out in His uniform representing Him?" Go out and be all about God today as you represent Him!

The Art

For my art today, I chose to create four Scripture Art Cards again. I just love creating these, and I also love seeing my little book fill up with scriptures. The scriptures I chose to use were 1 John 3:18 and 1 Peter 1:15 along with the quote from Billy Graham.

Feel free to join us on the Facebook page where some people will be sharing their creations. We also have some discussions that will be going on there too about the study. If you don't use Facebook and want to share your creation here, do so below by using Inlinkz! To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies and art tips, please see this post here. Be blessed as you go out wearing His uniform representing Him!

These are lovely! Thanks for showing how you store them and for the story and scriptures. Sometime this week I hope to get back to creating after a long recess. Your posts help me. Thank you, Patter. Jennifer in OH

Patter, I read your story and I could only think about my bible lesson this week... That nothing I can do can make me righteous except through the precious blood of Jesus and not by my good works.. I think I try so hard to live a righteous life it starts to become my own strength that I trust in... which turns out to be pride for me... so I need to take your words and pray that the Holy Spirit would give me wisdom on taking this and incorporate the word in what God is doing in my life right now...Let Christ SHINE through me!!! It's not about me and how hard I try..But I want God to receive all the Glory even in battles of my life...

Patter, what a great study today. This morning our pastor preached from Luke 6:27-36 on loving our enemies, doing good to those to hate us, blessing those who curse us and praying for those who mistreat us. What kind of representatives are we if we do not do what Jesus calls us to do in this passage. I just love when the Lord gives us confirmation. Have a blessed week.

Patter, you are blessing, thank you.I have been away overseas and only returned late this week. I might find time to do the first challenge but definitely wanted to do this one.God's perfect timing as what you have shared fits together so well with my Pastor's sermon today being the start of our theme for this year - Sharing Life - Sharing Christ.